Machine for cleaning tiles and analogous objects



Nov. 15, 1927. 1,649,604 H. D. LILLIBRIDGE MACHINE FOR CLEANING TILES AND ANALOGOUS OBJECTS Filed July 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet l III in Ill IIEEW 1 X INVENTOR my M? ATTORNEY 3 Nov. 15, 1927. 1,649,604

7 H. D. LILLIBRIDGE MACHINE FOR CLEANING TILES AND ANALOGOUS OBJECTS Filed July 2'7. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN l/EN TOR A TTORNEY "Nov. 15, 1927. 1,649,604

H. D. LILLIBRIDGE IACHINE FOR CLEANING TILES AND ANALOGOUS OBJECTS Filed July 27. 1921 3 sheetg sheet .3

INVENTOR A TTORN Y i ll ill

fronted Nov. 15, 1927.

uurrso STATES Parser oFFICE.

HARRY D. LILLIBHIDGE, OF ZANESVILLE, OHIU, ASSEIGNOE '20 AB'IERIGAN ENCAUSTIC CEILING COMPANY, 33333., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ABORPORATION OF NEW" YORK.

MACHINE r03 CLEANIDTG TELES also utariooous OBJECTS.

Application filed 31113 27;

This invention is a machine for cleaning ejects from adhering foreign subfitauces, the same being adapted, more particularly, for TQl'llOVlIlg sand adhering to tiles of small dimensions, such tiles for use in mosaic floors and other sur'iaces.

In the production of small dimension tiles it is usual to deposit the st along with a quantity of Etilltl into prior to burning or firing the product, the sand being interspersed with the tile material for preeluding the latter from eriug one to the other as a result of the operation; and s hsequeut to such operation, the tiles and i are dumped out of the sas eers. expenzuce having shown it the sand adheres to the cos of the bu. l

suri" d product so that it b-iecuies uere-sary to clean the product effect the removal of the sand adhering thereto.

Givingto the fee gile character of the burned clay, the tiles must be handled with sortie degree of care or uuoer certain condii s (hiring; the cleaning operation iuorder of the product. Furnoise areal thermor or cc l r uditv of operation the tiles a e 11 be cleaned in bull; or en mas it opareut that the cleaning of til-es iudi ll is not feasible owing to the low thereof. and, further,

hat manual attendance upon he cleaning of tiles should be mioiu' To earls, my iI for cleanup; tiles for the removal of t heriug subject.- the articles to frictional. durioo: transit throi h or Within .iue. such oucrat oubci conducted without exposingthe t to contact With metallic or othe' hard iayieldi Fill": at any point villi h ui av pos have a tendeucv to chip their edges or to break them and to enable the tiles to be dumped with the sand from the e i rs masse or in bulk into a reie viuo' hopper. and to he discharged from the machine in a (l-"'1Q1Tl conthe ma amps ditiou and under conditions which ouces to a iuii'iiu'uuu the to eney to hrealr or fracture the tiles or to c 7 the ode s there the machine includes Generally spealrir h the tiles and a receiving hopper into 'Wht sand are to be dumped. an elevating con- 1921. Serial No. (E1855.

screen, a gravity-operated platform for a r c-eptacle adapted to occupy such relation to the delivery conveyor to be depressed upon the accumulation of the tiles therein whereby breakage is precluded, and means for discharging the filled receptacles from the machine.

In a preferred form, the walls of the receiving hopper are'composed of material. such as hard fibre, capable of resisting the wear due to frictional contact therewithof argillaceous material, the interior of said hopper being fashioned to deliver to the ele voting conveyor the u'l-aterial tilcsand sand) in a continuous stream of relatively narrow cross section.

Said elevating: conveyor is composed. preferahly, of a cross corrugated belt composed of flexible material. usually rubber. the surface of which i provided at intervals with cleats or strips also of flexible material such as leather. the cross corrugations and the cleats operating: to reduce the slippa ie of the tiles downwardly on the conveyor during the elevating operation to the rotary screen. Plaid conveyor is supported by an appropriate inclined frame having; suitable exits for the sand ecapiug; fromthe tiles said frame having longitudinal bearing surfaces forcou fact of the flexible conveyor therewith" in such manner as to impart a substantially concave convex formation in cross section to the flexible conveyor whereby the tiles and sand materials are confined in a continuous stream of narrow cross section upon a channeled surface of the cross ribbed flexible couveyer. i r

An iu'iportaut element of the machine is the rotary screen which in this invention is composed of perforated material other than metal. To eliminate such hard ma.- terials as metal. and at the same time attain durabilitviu the wear and service of the screen. it is composed of laegs of hard wood,. such oak. extending lengthwise of the c v1- iuder and bound together by interior metal bands. The lass are perforated for the free escape of sand. and they are positioned in edgewise coutact so that they stand at an angle one to the other. presenting interiorly of the screen a surface designed to impart the required tumbling; action to the tiles,'f0r frictioually rubbing them together without subjecting the fragile tile material to "fracture and injury. The screen tapers l0ngitution of the elevating conveyor.

lowed to drop or fall by gravity from the.

delivery conveyer, an undue amount of breakage and loss is liable to occur. To obviate this, I provide a. tiltable platform adapted to. support. a removable receptacle below the discharge end of the deliveryconveyer. This platform is counterpoised so as to raise the receptacle when empty into close relation to the delivery conveyor. thus reducing the distance through which the tiles drop from the conveyer to the receptacle; but as the material accumulates within the receptacle and the height of the ma terial' increases therein, the weight of the 1 accumulated load acts to depress the couir terpoised platform, whereby the latter and the receptacle with the load are g'adually depressed until the receptacle assumes a horizontal position when filled, in which position the platform is latched until the filled receptacle is discharged from the platform and is replaced by an empty receptacle, whereupon the latch is released and the platform raises the empty receptacle into close relationship to the delivery conveyer.

Other functions and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description takenin connection with thedrawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a. side elevation of the complete machine.

Figure 2 is a plan view with the screen removed, illustrating the driving means.

Figure 3 is an elevation on an enlarged scale looking toward the delivery end of the machine.

Figure lis a side elevation of the machine at the delivery end thereof illustrating by full and dotted lines the operation of the tiltable platform.

Figure 5 is a detail view showing in sectional elevation the loading endportion of the rotary screen and the delivery end por- Figure 6 isa cross section on the line 6-4} of Figure 4 through the delivery cona Figure? is a cross section on the line 7 7 of Figure 1 through the elevating conveyer.

Figures 8 and 9 are detail views in edge elevation and in plan respectively of the flexible conveyor.

The several partsof the machine are supported by a main frame consisting of the parts a a a of any suitable construction; but shown "as comprising timbers framed together in a suitable way. The frame section a supports a receiving hopper A, the interior of which is composed of converging walls Z) I) b, the walls 7) Z) being at the spective sides of the hopper, whereas the wall 7) is at the end of the hopper. The several wallsarc composed of material, such as hard fibre, which will resist the wear due to the frictional contact of sand and tile material therewith, and said walls are inclined so as to form a throat or delivery space 0 in the bottom of the hopper.

Intermediate the frame scctitmr-z a. o, is an inclined runway B for the accormnodatiou of the elevating conveyor C. The runway B is supported at its lower end by the frame section a and at its elevated end by the frame section a. Said runway includes members on within which are secured longitmflinal cleats 0, the faces of which are bevelled at (2 The cleats 0 within the runway are sepa rated soas to leave an opening through which sand and other material is free to escape upon the delivery plate ii, the lat ter being positioned at the under side of the runway and being inclined transversely thereof, as shown in Figure 7, whereby the. sand and other refuse lodging upon the plate B are discharged from the machine.

The elevating conveyor is composed of flexible material, it being preferred to cmploy rubber in the i'nanufacture of the couveyor, although any other material suitable for the purpose may be employed. The flexible material is provided on its working surface with transverse corrugations (Z, as shown more particularly in Figures 8 and 9 of the drawings, and. in addition to the corrugations on its active surface, the flexible material of the conveyor is provided with cleats cl. The corrugations (Z are mohled in one surface of the material composing the flexible conveyor, whereas the cleats are.

made separate from the conveyor material and are attached suitaldy thereto. The cleats extend upwardly from the corrugated surfacesand they are positioned crosswise of the conveyor parallel to the corrugations thereof. The conveyor being composed of soft material, there is no liability of injury to the ceramic material and in the operation of elevating the material a certain amount of friction exists between the surface of the conveyor and said material, the corrugations of the conveyor reducing the slippage of the tiles as they are carriedu1nvardly by the conveyor, and the protruding cleats acting in effect to arrest any downward movement of the tiles during the elevation thereof by the conveyor.

Said conveyor is an endless web supported in an inclined position by and within a runway B, the lower portion of the conveyor fitting an idler pulley e, whereas the upper part or" the endless conveyor is in frictional contact with a driving pulleye, the two said pulleys e 6 being provided with concave faces, one of which is illustrated by the plan view in Figure 52. The flexible conveyor hugs closely to the concave faces of the driving pulley and theidler pulley, and that part of the conveyor intermediate the said pulleys and in contact with theinclined faces of the cleats 6 within the runway partakes of the transverse curvature illustrated in Figure 7 out the drawugs. The active lead of the conveyor owing to its contact with the concave pulleys and to the contact of its edge portions to the cleats 0 produces a transverse cavity in said active lead, as a result of which the conveyor is given an approximately trough-shaped form within which the tile material is confined, so that there is, practically speaking, a narrow stream of tile material undergoing the elevating operation during the action of the conveyor. With. the idler pulley e is associated a suitable take-up device for retaining the conveyor under ten si on. As shown, the shatt ot the idler pulley is mounted in sliding bearings within a guideway e and adapted to be adjusted by a screw 0".

The loading end of the endless conveyor operates within the receiving hopper A so that the tile material will flow by gravity througl'i the throat c and lodge upon said conveyor, whereas the delivery end of the endless conveyor is operatively related to a rotary screen D, as illustrated more clearly in Figures 1 and 5 of the-drawings. The upper run of the conveyor is in contact with the direction. pulley f positioned near the upper end of the runway and thence passes around another pulley f positioned within the receiving end of the rotary screen, see Figure 5, the conveyor thence passing around the direction pulley f positioned below the pulley thence around the driving pulley c, and thence over the. direction pulley F, from whence the conveyor runs below the runway to the idler pulley c. The pulley f is carried by ashatt 7 supported on a member of the runway B that extends into the open loading end of the rotary screen. whereby the tiles and other material are delivered from the elevating conveyor directly into the rotary screen. The driving pulley c is on a countershaft g journaled in appropriate bearings of the frame section a. This countershatt is geared at g of a drive shaft 1*] provided with a driving pulley E". This drive shaft is provided with bevelled gears h in mesh with other bevelled gears 71/ ft parallel shafts F, the latter running longitudinally of the frame section a Said shafts F are positioned between the sides of the frame section a and they are inclined lon itudmall i tllQYQlIL said shafts b8111 roa .l n

vided with grooved friction rolleri "for the reception of the tack bandsz' provided ex teriorly on the rotary screen D.

It should be stated that the direction pulleys f f are on shafts having-bearings in the framesection'd and in" the runway B, asillnstrated more particularly in Figure 1.

The rotary screen D is composed ota number of lags assembled in contacting relationalong their longitudinal edges, and bound firmly into'a single unitary structure by theexternal traclr'bands z. The legs) D are composoch preferably, of wood or otherl non-metallic material suitable tor'the pur pose, each lag having a multiplicity of per-' 5 forations 73 through which sand or other line material is free to escape during the rotary movement of the screen. By constructing the rotary screen of wooden lags, the possi: bility of injury to or breakage otthe tile material i minimized, and notwithstanding the wear which takes placeilue to theiric tional contact of the tile material and sand with the wooden, lags, it has been foundby experience that the use of oak wood in the construction of the lags secures the desirable durability in the construction of the cylindrical screen. The screen is provided at its receiving end with an inwardly extending member i within which is positioned a band i, in which band extends that part of the runway which supports the direction pulley f. The entire screen structiuerests by gravity upon the driving rolls of the parallel shafts, said screen cylinder being inclined from its receiving end to its discharging end. The shafts F F are driven from the shaft E for in'iparting rotative movement to the screen cylinder, and during such rotation the material present within the'screen is given a tun'ibling actionpthe elfect of which is to frictionally rub the tiles against each other for the purpose of removing therefrom the sand which adheres to the surfaces of said tiles. The screen is encased within a Clltllllf her the sides and top of which are closed. as shown in Figures l and 3, and this chamber is in direct communication with the hopper Gr provided with an outlet G at the bottom thereof, whereby the sand which is carried into the screen by the elevating conveyor is free to through the perforationsz and drop into the hopper G, whence the sand may be removed by the attendant opening a gate in theoutlet G of said hopper;

Positioned below the delivery end of the rotary screen is an inclined chute H, the bottom'H of which is perforated at k for the tree escape or any sand which may find its way out of the delivery end 01" said rotary screen. The chute H is supported in a stat onary position at the rear part of frame a Forpositively carrying the cleanedtiles away from the screen, I employ a short endless conveyor I, the upper lead of which runs withinthe delivery chute substantially as shown in Figures 4 and 6. This delivery carrier is supported by pulleys j j", the 1211b. ter being an idler mounted in suitable brackets j attachedto the frame section a at the rearthereof so as to overhang the delivery roller bed presently described. The other pulley y. is on a shaft Z2 journaled in the frame section a below the lower end of the rotary screen. Said shaft 1: is driven through intermeshing ears from a countershaft it also jour nled on the frame sec tion (1 as shown in Figure 2. Said countershaft is driven by sprocket gearing is from one of the parallel shafts F which, as shown in Figure 2, are geared to the drive shaft E, the described train of shafting and gearingoperating to impart motion to the pulley jfor driving the endless conveyor I. It is desirable to deliver the tiles after having been cleaned within the rotary screen into a receptacle; but owing to the fragile character of such tiles and to the tendency of the tiles to break or chip when dropping through a space of appreciable depth, I find it necessary to mount the receptacle for movement relatively to the delivery end of the short conveyor I. Said receptacle is sustained in a raised position close to the conveyor through the action of a counterweight, and as the tiles accumulate within the receptacle, the weight of the load depresses the receptacle gradually, whereby the accumulation of the material within the slowly descending receptacles minimizes the distance through which the tiles fall as they pass from the conveyor I upon the heap of tile material contained within the receptacle. To the attainment of the foregoing ends, I employ a receptacle carrier J which is provided with a desired number of rollers J. This receptacle carrier is provided on one side thereof with arms m which are fast with a horizontal rock shaft m journaled in hearings or brackets m firmly attached to the frame section a Said rock shaft is provided at its ends with arms m to which arepivoted rods m which carry the counter-- weights K. It is apparent" that the receptacle carrier J and its rollers J are normally elevated by the counterweights to the inclined position shownmore particularly in Figures 1 and 4 of the drawings, whereby a receptacle indicated by dotted lines at L in Figure 4; is supported in a position for the delivery end of conveyor I to extend into said receptacle, as a result of which tiles on the conveyor I will drop into receptacle L through a comparatively short space. The accumulation of tiles within the receptacle gradually depresses the carrier and the receptacle so as to swing the arms m inwardly and to raise the counter-weights; but owing to the gradually increasing weight of the tile material within the receptacle the distance through which the tiles drop from the conveyor I is kept at a minimum. The carrier is gradually depressed by the weight of the accumulated tiles until it assumes a substantially horizontal position within a recess n of a roller bed N, the latter comprising a suitable table with rollers n, see Figure 3. The depression of the carrier J by the tiles accumulating within the receptacle brings the rollers J of the pivoted carrier into the same horizontal plane as the rollers 12/ of the roller bed, and when thus depressed it is desirable to lock said pivoted carrier in the horizontal aligned position with the roller bed, to which end I employ a latch 0 which is pivoted at its lower end to a release lever 0, one end of which is counter-poised at 0, see Figures 3 and l, said latcho being adapted for locking engagement with the pivoted carrier. 1

The operation is as follows: The loaded saggers are carried to the machine, and the tiles with the sand and other loose material are dumped into the receiving hopper A.

Motion having been given to the conveyors C I and the rotary screen, the conveyor C carries the tiles in an upward direction from the hopper A and delivers the same into the rotary screen I). Some of the sand escapes from the conveyor 0 during the elevation of the tile material so as to be discharged by the plate B. lhe rotation of the screen agitates the tiles in a manner to remove the sand adhering to the surfaces thereof, the same being free to pass through the perforations in the screen and accumulate within the hopper G. The tiles are delivered from thc open end of the screen upon the conveyor I which transports the tiles into the receptacle L on the pivoted carrier J. As the tiles accumulate within the carrier the increased weight lifts the counter-poise and depresses said carrier to the lmrizontal plane of the roller bed, whereupon the latch 0 engages with the pivoted carrier for locking the same in a horizontal position. The operator slides the receptacle L from the piv oted carrier to one section or the other of the roller bed, the rollers facilitating the movement of the loaded receptacle. In the mean time the operator should replace the filled receptacle with an empty one, and thereupon releases the latch by depressing the lever O, whereupon the counter-poise K lifts the empty receptacle and the pivoted carrier to the inclined position in closerelation to the delivery end of conveyor I.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tile cleaning machine, tile-feeding mechanism embodying a conveyor composed of relatively flexible material provided on the load-engaging surface thereof with corrugations, and cleats unitary with said conveyor and spaced thereon, said cleats protruding beyond the surfaces presented by said corrugations.

2. In a tile cleaning machine, tile-feeding mechanism embodying a conveyor composed of flexible material and of concave-convex formation in cross section, said conveyor being provided on the load-engaging surface with corrugations extending crosswise thereof, and cleats unitary with said conveyor, said cleats conforming to the cross contour of the conveyor and protruding from the surfaces presented by said corrugations.

3. In a tile cleaningmachine, tile-feeding mechanism embodying a plurality of directing members spaced relatively to each other, said members having beveled surfaces in opposing relation one to the other, and a conveyor composed of flexible material, said conveyor contacting at its margins With, and unsupported at its middle portion by, said beveled surfaces of said members, said flexible conveyor being provided on its loadengaging surface with means conforming to the cross sectional contour of the conveyor and operating to preclude slippage of the load imposed on said surface.

In testimony whereof I have hereto signed my name this 26th day of July, 1921.

HARRY D. LILLIBRIDGE. 

